‘Batman vs. Superman’ Rumors: No Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, & More!

Zack Snyder’s Man of Steelsequel – still known as Batman vs. Superman, until the world is told differently – is set to begin filming in Michigan this February, barely a month away. The only pieces of confirmed information about the film are new details about the shoot in Detroit and the reported $131 million production budget attached to – presumably – the filming in that state.

As always, the rumors are more fun – whether any of them end up to be true or not – and just in the last few weeks alone we’ve seen a whole new spate of them as DC and Warner Bros. get ready to establish their own Cinematic Universe. Is Denzel Washington involved? If so, will he play Lex Luthor? The Green Lantern? Or is Dwayne Johnson playing GL? How big of a role will Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman have?

And if potential Justice Leaguemembers like Wonder Woman and Green Lantern are making some kind of appearance, what about some of the other DC characters who are major JL members, like Aquaman and Martian Manhunter? The inclusion of Lex Luthor appears to be a lock, but what about the identity of a suspected second villain? Batman on Filmhas addressed a slew of Batman vs. Superman questions and rumors, and while many of BoF‘s answers are really just opinion and speculation, some of the information sounds fairly legitimate and intriguing.

For instance, is Lex Luthor really in the film, and who is the additional villain? According to BoF’s Jett Ramey (framed as a response to readers’ questions):

Yes. And sorry, I’m not at liberty to reveal the ID of the other villain at this time…but the character is highly rumored to be in the film.

What about the casting of Game of Thronesstar Jason Momoa? Will he play Martian Manhunter or (a miscast) Aquaman? According to Jett:

Nope and nope. Neither of those characters are in this film.

‘Batman vs. Superman’ Fan Art by John Mattisson

BoF also denies that any Bat-villains will make an appearance. From the sound of it, that’s about it for the hard information. The film’s reboot of Batman, the rumored involvement of the John Stewart Green Lantern and the confirmation of Wonder Woman’s role has led some fans to wonder how much room is left over for Superman and if this Man of Steel follow-up is a Justice League movie in disguise. BoF responds to this particular question:

Based on all my intel…NOPE. It’s a Superman film – a Superman film that just so happens to include Batman and Wonder Woman – but a Superman film nonetheless.

BoF has additional insight on other issues, such as the size of Wonder Woman’s role in Batman vs. Superman – “on par with Scarlett Johansson’s first appearance as Black Widow in IRON MAN 2.” There is also a rather novel take on WW’s ancestry – which is complete and utter speculation, but interesting to note:

…the “Amazons” of this cinematic DCU will be descendants of those “ancient Kryptonians” who attempted to set up Kryptonian outposts throughout spacedom thousands and thousands of years ago. Furthermore, I say that Wonder Woman will be powered-down, if you will, relative to Superman because these Amazons have evolved and adapted to living on Earth for hundreds of centuries.

Probably a stretch, but given screenwriter David S. Goyer’s extensive tweaking of the traditional Krypton mythology, it’s at least plausible. BoF goes on to answer other fan questions, such as which source comics would inform Ben Affleck’s Batsuit – they mention the Kingdom Come and Batman Beyond suits as possible inspiration (we’ve heard differently, and should point out that Batman on Film loves Batman Beyond and turned out to be off-based when predicting that the beloved futuristic animated series would serve as a jumping off point for DC’s Batman reboot).

So could Jason Momoa be playing Doomsday, after all? There is no hard proof, but this new information is a strong clue that this could be the case. And what about the notion of Batman controlling drones from the Batcave? BoF is all for it (even if the reader wondered if it could be a “rip-off” of the Iron Manseries), since Batman is usually always a step ahead of everyone; hence, the use of bat-drones could form his method of dealing with Superman – the need for which he would have foreseen.

Several of BoF’s other reader questions had to do with the likelihood of Ben Affleck taking on solo Bat-films after Batman vs. Superman, and just how many films he might be contracted to appear in. There is no way to know the details on these points, but both answers could depend on the success of BvS. Given the level of fan anticipation involved – and this before any significant portion of the film has been shot – the film’s success is nearly a given, and the more we hear about Affleck’s approach to and respect for the role, the more it sounds like Affleck is in this for the long haul.

What do think about this Batman vs. Superman news, Screen Ranters? Should Martian Manhunter or Aquaman be included? Are bat-drones a good idea? Sound off in the comments!